'It could have haunted my life' | Daithí Regan on missing the 1998 All-Ireland Final

Former Offaly hurler Daithi Regan was on The Saturday Panel and spoke about his biggest regret in an otherwise glittering career.

Regan had plenty of success with the Faithful County, winning an All-Ireland, a league title and four Leinster Championships.

However, due to reasons well within his own control, he missed out on Offaly’s 1998 All-Ireland triumph.

“We won a club All-Ireland with Birr. A great club All-Ireland. And it was a really emotional one because Joe Early was captain and his father had died in the stand in the semi-final against Clarecastle.

“Extra-time, replays, and we bet Sarsfields in the final. I was in the best shape, playing great hurling, but I didn’t stop celebrating,” Regan explained.

The Birr man spent too much time celebrating his club’s All-Ireland winning season and even the introduction of a new manager to the Offaly team wasn’t enough to get him back into shape.

“Michael Bond came in and he was brilliant. He had me down trying to get the best out of me again and I was getting back into it but I couldn’t get back in time. And that was it.

“When the panel got together for the All-Ireland I wanted to be part of the outer panel and they did the right thing and they went, ‘No. You’re not part of it.’ And that was it,” Regan said.

While being dropped from the Offaly panel obviously disappointed Regan he knew he had no one to blame but himself.

“You can’t turn and point the fingers. And I was a great fella at that, for blaming everyone else for your failures. This is one that – and I’ve often thought about this – this is something that could have haunted my life.

“Missing out on that All-Ireland because of my own fault. Because I had indulged for too long. But I parked it straight away and said to myself I have to,” Regan explained.

Regan did go on to play for Offaly again making his final appearance for the county as a substitute against Kilkenny in the 1999 Leinster final.

Offaly were well beaten by the Cats that day however and Offaly haven’t tasted success in either the All-Ireland or the Leinster Championship since.

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